1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus such as a video camera and an image processing method, and more particularly, to an image processing apparatus and an image processing method which recognize an object and control image processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have recently appeared a still camera, a monitoring camera, and the like, which recognize a portion to be regarded such as a face of an object from an image being captured, and perform camera control such as focus and exposure in accordance with the portion.
For example, a still camera as follows is known. The camera detects a plurality of faces from a captured image, and in the case of finding a face corresponding to that of a person registered in its main body, the camera controls focus and exposure in accordance with the face portion prioritizing the face, and displays a frame with respect to the face portion (e.g. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2004-320287).
Further known is a still camera that controls focus prioritizing a central portion from among a plurality of ranging portions to capture an image (e.g. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 07-140374).
Moreover known is an auto-tracking camera that determines a motion vector, which was detected in the largest number among a plurality of motion vector detection frames, as a vector of a principal object (e.g. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 05-030407).
However, as to the conventional camera, when another person gets into an image capturing range while the user is capturing an image of a intended person's face, focus and exposure might be controlled in accordance with another person's face against the user's expectation. Further, a frame might be displayed on another person's face against the user's expectation.
In the case of a still camera, the user can operate the camera so as to prioritize a intended object before a shutter release. But in the case of a video camera, since consecutive image capturing is performed, when focus and exposure with respect to a intended person get off the control, a large problem may occur, such as a problem of desired image quality becoming unobtainable.
In the case of the still camera disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2004-320287, processing for determining consistency with an already registered person's face is necessary to discriminate an intended object. This causes problems of complex hardware and longer software processing time.
The still camera disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 07-140374 has a problem of prioritizing a person in contradiction to the user's expectation in such a case where a passerby or the like passes behind a person as an object to be captured in the center of the image capturing range.
The auto-tracking camera disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 05-030407 might prioritize and capture a person in contradiction to the user's expectation in such a case where a passerby or the like passes near side of a person as an object to be captured in the image capturing range.